An Excellent Republican Candidate You May Not Know: Dan Bongino

Bongino has a background not just in active police and security work -- he has a B.A. and master's degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuro-psychology and behavioral learning, and a second master's degree in business administration. He describes himself, as he did today, as a man who is not rich, but a member of the middle class -- the very group that polls show is gaining Mitt Romney the most votes. With his wife, he started three small businesses and left his work with her for this campaign.

Bongino is particularly interested in what he calls the main civil rights issue today -- that of education for minorities and the poor in central cities. He spoke about his own work on that behalf in those sections of Maryland where poor and minority residents are forced to attend bad schools and have no choice for anything else. As a young boy growing up in Jackson Heights in Queens, New York, only a scholarship from a Catholic school in his borough allowed him to gain the advantage of a solid education denied his friends, who attended poor public schools in his own community.

Listening to Bongino speak, it occurred to me that it is possible he will receive more votes on the Republican line in Maryland than Mitt Romney. There is even a real chance that he could win against his opponent Ben Cardin. Like the presidential candidates, Cardin and Bongino have two or three debates coming up, one of which will be broadcast on one of the three major networks, and another on the local Maryland PBS station. I have not heard Cardin speak, but Bongino is up on both domestic and foreign policy, and can handle anything thrown at him. Like Paul Ryan, he has studied economics and he regularly cites works that have influenced him, like the writings of Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, and others.

At today’s talk, many of the seniors present were concerned about what their fate might be should Obamacare not be defeated. Explaining the stakes, Bongino answered that the IPAB boards set up to judge what Medicare will or will not cover would result eventually in a two-tier health system: good medical care for the wealthy who can afford concierge service and pay their own way, and poor and diminished medical care for everyone else forced to go into the government-run program without the ability to make a choice of what they want.